Finance
What to know:
- In a twist that’d make a dustbowl farmer blush, Hut 8 shares shot up like a scarecrow in a lightning storm-nearly 30 percent-after announcing a 15-year, $9.8 billion lease for an AI data center project in Texas. And get this: with options, it could balloon to $25.1 billion. That’s enough to make a Depression-era banker weep with joy.
- Once a bitcoin-mining outpost, the Beacon Point campus has traded its pickaxe for a silicon chip, pivoting to AI and high-performance computing. Seems the bitcoin miners are as fickle as a Salinas Valley breeze, fleeing to AI as their old gig turns sour. Hut 8 now boasts 597 megawatts of AI data center capacity, worth a cool $16.8 billion. Not bad for a bunch of former crypto cowboys.
- The 352-megawatt lease, inked with an investment-grade tenant, will fuel AI training and inference-whatever that means. It’ll also pad the pockets for Hut 8’s grand plans: a 1,000-megawatt Beacon Point site and a 7,500-megawatt pipeline. Designed to NVIDIA’s DSX reference architecture, it’s set to hum to life in 2027. That’s right, folks-the future’s coming, and it’s got a Texas-sized appetite.
Hut 8 (HUT) shares surged like a migrant worker chasing a rumor of work-nearly 30% on Wednesday-after the company unveiled its 15-year, $9.8 billion lease for a sprawling AI data center in Texas. And if all the renewal terms are exercised, the total could hit $25.1 billion. That’s more zeros than a Steinbeck novel has grapes.
The Beacon Point campus, once destined for bitcoin mining, has been repurposed for AI infrastructure, as if the ghosts of failed miners whispered, “Pivot, or perish.” Hut 8 says the demand for high-performance computing is hotter than a July harvest, and they’re riding that wave like a turtle on a flood.
This shift comes as bitcoin miners face economics harsher than a Dust Bowl drought, losing roughly $19,000 per coin produced. No wonder they’re fleeing to AI like Okies to California. Over $70 billion in contracts have been signed, and some miners could see 70% of their revenue from AI by 2026. That’s progress, or something.
Hut 8’s 352-megawatt lease with a high-investment-grade tenant marks its second major AI data center deal, bringing its total contracted capacity to 597 megawatts and a base-term contract value of $16.8 billion. The lease is expected to churn out roughly $655 billion in annual net operating income once stabilized. That’s enough to make a capitalist blush.
The new funding will fuel Hut 8’s AI infrastructure platform, including further development at Beacon Point and its broader pipeline. The campus has secured 1,000 megawatts of utility capacity, with initial energization set for Q1 2027. That’s a long way off, but hey, Rome wasn’t built in a day-and neither was a data center.
“Beacon Point underscores why we start with power and maintain flexibility across end markets,” said Chief Executive Asher Genoot, sounding like a man who’s read his Grapes of Wrath. “Operating across multiple applications lets us underwrite assets that single-use-case developers cannot, then redirect them toward higher-value commercialization pathways as demand evolves.” In other words, they’re hedging their bets like a farmer with a rain gauge.
The project, designed to NVIDIA’s DSX reference architecture, will be developed with partners including American Electric Power, Vertiv, and Jacobs. The first data hall is expected by Q3 2027. Until then, we’ll just have to wait and see if this AI boom is the Promised Land or just another mirage on the horizon.
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2026-05-06 18:09